Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Block, lost $526 million on Thursday after a damning Hindenburg report accused the payment company of inflating user metrics. Hindenburg Research said Block refused to tackle obvious fraud and that it was reaping where it did not sow. Hindenburg said Block’s shares have a downside of 65% to 75% on a purely fundamental basis, The National News reports.
Block’s stocks closed at 15% on Thursday after tumbling by about 22%. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI) now ranks Dorsey as worth $4.4 billion after stating that his evaluation dropped by 11%. BBI estimates that Dorsey has about $3 billion invested in Block while his current worth in Twitter, which he co-founded but sold to Elon Musk, is $388 million.
Dorsey is not the first billionaire to lose money suddenly after being taken on by Hindenburg, headed by Nathan Anderson. Earlier this year, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, which happened to be the second-richest person in the world at a point, lost billions of dollars after Hindenburg pried into his company’s affairs. Adani is now the 21st wealthiest person in the world, with a worth of $60.1 billion.
Electric carmaker Nikola Corp. also crashed after Hindenburg released a corruption report against its founder Trevor Milton in September 2020. In October of that year, Milton was eventually convicted of fraud after diligent investigations. The stocks of the automaker also plunged during and after the incident.
Block has vowed to fight Hindenburg’s accusations in court.
